Mary Politi, PhD

Medical School Department Surgery
Research Program Prevention and Control
Mary Politi

Researcher Background

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Surgery, Division of Public Health Sciences, WashU Medicine

Training

  • 2006 - 2007: Postdoctoral Fellow, Behavioral Medicine, Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI
  • 2007 - 2009: Postdoctoral Fellow, Transdisciplinary Cancer Research, Brown University and the Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI

Education

  • 2004: MPhil, Clinical Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC
  • 2006: PhD, Clinical Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Research & Selected Publications

Researrch Interest

Dr. Politi is a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine. Her primary research interests include health communication and shared decision-making. Her work helps patients and the public understand health information, explore what is important to them when making health decisions, and collaborate to make evidence-informed decisions that meet their needs. She also trains health care professionals, public health advocates, and members of the public interested in shared decision-making and patient engagement. Dr. Politi’s research includes a focus on reducing health disparities by engaging communities with unmet health needs and including them in both research and dissemination efforts. She works extensively with stakeholders to ensure her research is relevant to end users in clinical and community settings.

Research Publications

Implementing and evaluating visual key information pages compared to text-based key information: protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial.
Authors:

Cooksey KE, Goldstein EC, Lee CN, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

BMC Med Ethics • 2025

Assessing the Usability of a Novel Toolkit for Creating Visual Key Information Pages for Informed Consent for Research: Mixed Methods Usability Study.
Authors:

Goldstein EC, Troubh Z, Cooksey KE, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

JMIR Form Res • 2025

Qualitative Assessment of a Decision Tool for Stage I Lung Cancer Treatment.
Authors:

Goldstein EC, Andrade DC, Housten AJ, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

Ann Thorac Surg Short Rep • 2025

A Scoping Review of Interventions to Address Financial Toxicity in Pediatric and Adult Patients and Survivors of Cancer.
Authors:

Ping C, Andrade DC, Housten A, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

Cancer Med • 2025

Accelerating implementation of visual key information to improve informed consent in research: a single-institution feasibility study and implementation testing.
Authors:

Hill A, Housten AJ, Cooksey K, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

BMJ Open • 2025

Lessons learned from an observational study of patients with breast cancer: adaptions for remote implementation.
Authors:

Salerno EA, Harriss C, Andrade DC, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

Support Care Cancer • 2025

Costs of non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment among privately insured men in the United States.
Authors:

Housten AJ, Chang SH, Rice HE, one or more additional authors omitted Politi MC

Journal & Year:

PLoS One • 2025

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Implementation of BREASTChoice , a Multilevel Breast Reconstruction Decision Support Tool With Personalized Risk Prediction.
Authors:

Politi MC, Myckatyn TM, Cooksey K, one or more additional authors omitted Lee CN

Journal & Year:

Ann Surg • 2024